TEHRAN – The wellhead jacket of South Pars gas field’s phase 11 of development was loaded from the yard of Naft Sazeh Qeshm (NSQ) on Thursday to be shipped toward its offshore designated spot in the Persian Gulf.

Loading the mentioned structure, development of phase 11 was started, Shana reported.

According to Hamidreza Masoudi, the managing director of Petropars Company, which is in charge of developing the phase, the installation of the 2,200-ton jacket will be completed by mid-June and drilling operations of the phase are expected to be started immediately.

As reported, once operational, the platform will drill 15 offshore wells in phase 11 of the massive gas field.

Masoudi expressed hope that the phase is going to become operational in the next Iranian calendar year 1400 (starts on March 2021).

The official noted that the operations are progressing based on schedules and Petropars is working on the project with complete determination.

Petropars is developing the project after its partners, Total and CNPCI, pulled out of the project due to the U.S. sanctions.

The project aims to generate 2 billion cubic feet of rich gas, and transfer it to existing South Pars refineries and use the refinery's processing capacity.

South Pars is the world’s largest gas field, covering an area of 3,700 square kilometers of Iran’s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf.

The giant field is estimated to contain a significant amount of natural gas, accounting for about eight percent of the world’s reserves, and approximately 18 billion barrels of condensate. The field is divided into 24 standard phases.

The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue the implementation of important oil projects including the development of joint oil and gas fields in the current Iranian year.

Being among the world’s top four countries that have the largest proven deposits of crude oil and natural gas, Iran shares the broad offshore field with Qatar in the southern Iranian region of the Persian Gulf.

EF/MA